Luke Abraham has a background in money – of sorts. For nine years Abraham was a croupier and floor manager at Brisbane’s Treasury Casino until the urge for a lifestyle change made him consider broking. “My wife and I were both tired of me doing night shift and weekend work… we wanted a normal Monday to Friday – I’d say nine to five but I’m doing more hours than that!”

Aussie retail business consultant Peter Easton highly recommended Abraham to MPA, noting that he had settled a refinance application in his first week on the job. In fact, Abraham recalls, he had “four or five clients come through”, thanks to Aussie’s practice of channelling leads to new brokers, which he thinks definitely helps. “You can’t put a price on the brand recognition Aussie has.”

Guaranteeing leads makes entering the profession easier, he reckons. “Commission-only is a fairly daunting concept, and if there was a way to get around that and make it easier it would definitely help.” He also notes the importance of having a mentor in his office, who is always willing to give advice.

Broking is tough, Abraham warns, but “the flexibility is phenomenal, the ability to earn whatever I want to earn; if I want to do no work and earn $20,000 I can do that; if I want to work hard and make six figures I can do that”. And he hugely enjoys helping people. “One of the benefits with Aussie over the Casino is that I now have the ability to help people secure home ownership which is much more rewarding.”

For new brokers hoping to emulate Abraham’s successful first week, he advises them to “work hard, learn as much as you can as quick as you can, and set up good referral partnerships”.